Video Game / Phantasy Star Nova

Phantasy Star Nova is the second Phantasy Star installment for The Eighth Generation of Console Video Games after the popular MMORPG Phantasy Star Online 2, and a Gaiden Game to said title. It was developed by tri-Ace for the PS Vita and published by Sega, and released in Japan on November 27th, 2014, and elsewhere in Asia on March 26, 2015.

You are a member of the Delta Valiant, a ship belonging to the ARKS Special Planetary Exploration Group, aka "Alter". As a subsection of the ARKS (Artificial Relicit to Keep Species), your mission is to scout unexplored regions of space for new planets that may be potentially colonized by the Oracle Colony Ship.

When the Delta Valiant approaches a barren planet known as Machia, the ship is suddenly shot down and crash lands on its surface. The crew discover that Machia lacks the "photons" that power ARKS technology, and thus have no way to repair the ship or defend themselves against its hostile inhabitants. That is until you meet Juno, a mysterious girl who grants you the power of "Gran" as a substitute. Now you must scour Machia for the parts you need to repair the Delta Variant while fighting against the Gran Darkers and colossal "Gigantes" monsters which roam the world.

An English fan translation is in the works, provided by the same translation team that does the Phantasy Star Online 2 fan translation.

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Phantasy Star Nova provides examples of:

A-C

• Absurdly High Level Cap: Downplayed. The level cap is Level 100, but the game expects you to be mid-Level 80 by the end of the game. Played straight after Version 1.05, which doubles the cap to Level 200, which is largely for the Extra Hard content.
• Action Girl: Izuna, Lutina, and Fildia are the main trifecta. You can also be one yourself, if you so choose.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The "Nova" Gigantes was originally designed to protect Machia from extraterrestrial invaders and their photon-powered technology. However, since photons are prevalent throughout the entire universe, Nova eventually grew to consider everything outside of Machia its sworn enemy.
• A.K.A.-47: The collaboration Twin Machineguns from Resonance of Fate that you can acquire^note Specifically, the three protagonists' starting guns don't hide the fact that they are modern^note For us, anyway... guns with made up names.
• An Interior Designer Is You: Once you succeed Fildia as captain, you can customize the Delta Valiant's base. Besides the actually functional buildings you can install such as Shops, you can also install a variety of personal touches, such as shrine gateways.
• Antagonist Title: The titular Nova is a supermassive Gigantes whose "body" is actually the entire upper layer of Machia. While not traditionally an antagonist (that would go to Reven), it is what is keeping the cast from leaving, and it's only after Juno convinces it that its mission to stop the Photoners has been fulfilled that the cast is allowed to go home.
• Anti-Frustration Features: Once you enter post-Level 100 post-game, Kisara will grant a set of new Promise Orders that allows you to exchange some Gran Pieces for Memory Fragments, from varieties of A to E. This means that you do not have to go back to the starting Quests to farm for early-game Memory Fragments for Arts/Techs you missed leveling up.
• Applied Phlebotinum: Gran, an energy that permeates the environment and creatures of Machia much in the same way photons do in the rest of the universe. The Gigantes are actually designed to convert photons into Gran.
• Arbitrary Weapon Range: Projectiles and Techniques fired by the player tend to simply vanish once they reach a certain range. Strangely, enemies tend to not have this problem, if only for the fact that the majority of projectiles they fire at players also home in on them.
• Arc Welding: It is revealed later in the game that the Gigantes were developed by Machia's natives to repel the Photoners, who had a taste for planetary invasions at the time. Unfortunately, the Gigantes didn't stop after the Photoners were gone...
• Art-Shifted Sequel: Nova features more realistic lighting, shaders, and textures compared to Online 2.
• Artificial Brilliance: Whenever a large Gigantes appears, Partners will always prioritize setting up Ring Fields and firing Piles into the target before attacking. However...
• Artificial Stupidity:
  • Sometimes your Partners will be content standing around doing nothing while changing weapons.
  • For some reason, Partners have a "detection range" in which an enemy needs to be close enough to them for them to start fighting. If you play long-ranged, such as wielding an Assault Rifle or Techniques, it's possible to sit at a range where you're obviously wailing on the target, but your Partners aren't close enough to the enemy to notice.
• Attack Its Weakpoint:
  • Several enemies have exploitable weak points that allow you to deal bonus damage, Gran Darkers in particular. Gigantes, however, generally have two: their glowing, Gran-infused flesh, and the diamond core that appears when it's disabled. Attacking the former will allow you to bring it down so you can attack the latter.
  • Piles can create weak points by firing spears into enemies. Players who attack the spears will drive them into the target's flesh, dealing double damage.
  • Rangers have a skill that does extra damage to an enemies' head. Note that the head is usually not directly targetable via lock on, meaning you'll have to do some creative maneuvering to make sure you're hitting it.
  • Once you clear both phases of the Final Boss, Ring Fields appear to take you up to its very top, which is... Reven's petrified body. One hit is all it takes to do him in for good.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Gigantes notwithstanding, there are also Mega enemies, giant-sized versions of standard mooks that can be found in certain DLC Quests.
• Award-Bait Song: A rearrange of the British folk ballad "Scarborough Fair", performed by Juno's voice actor Sayori Hayami, in English, no less.
• Back from the Dead: For gameplay purposes, you can cough up a hefty 27,000 Gran Pieces during the post-game to get Fildia's Cold Sleep Capsule. After that, you can cough up another 28,000 Gran Pieces for Reven's Cold Sleep Capsule.
• Background Music Override: Achieving a Burst replaces any music that was playing with the Burst theme, regardless of situation.
• Battle Aura: Activating Stances invokes them for a second.
• Bears Are Bad News: Carnebear, a Rockbear Palette Swap equipped with twin shoulder cannons. It can throw punches and fire powerful dual shots at you and your allies.
• BFS: The Swords you can get are pretty damn huge. In addition, the Sword Gran Art "Over End" takes this up to eleven by doubling your Sword's length with a gigantic Gran-powered Laser Blade.
• Big Bad: Halfway through the game, Reven takes the stage as this.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: The insectoid-type Gran Darkers, the minions of Dark Falz Apprentice. Among them include G Dagan, G Predicahda, and G Krahda.
• Bioweapon Beast: The Gigantes are mechanized monsters armed with heavy weaponry powered by Gran, the resident energy source. Turns out they were developed by an ancient civilization for the express purpose of fighting the Photoners. They outlived said ancient civilization due to the Gigantes growing beyond their control.
• The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In: When Agrios throws Fildia off, her Sword does this.
• Blocking Stops All Damage: If you know how to Guard^note Hunters and Busters know it by default and have the skill Just Guard installed on your Skill Board, hitting the Guard button on an applicable weapon right before an attack against you lands negates the damage. Depending on the skills installed, you may even gain additional benefits for this.
• Bonus Feature Failure: The collaboration weapons. In non-Japanese versions of the game, the collab weapons are included in the game by default, and only require collecting one of a special Material to craft. However, said Material doesn't show up until long after you acquire superior weapons, rendering them useless.
• Boom, Headshot!: Weapons that deal Ranged damage can gain a "headshot" bonus by striking an enemy's head, which multiplies damage dealt.
• Boring, but Practical:
  • The entirety of Assault Rifle gameplay. You can win fights simply by using Reflect Aegis, then camping in a corner and spamming Glory Rain until everything dies. Glory Rain even subverts the need to use Ring Fields.
  • The fastest way to increase Relationship Values with NPCs is to just accept and complete cheap, low-grade Promise Orders repeatedly, then take a Quest to refresh the list and do it again. This does not work with certain NPCs such as Orcus and Sail, who don't give out 20 Bear Asses type Quests.
• Boss Rush: "Last Date", an optional Quest unlocked by reaching maximum friendship with Fildia. You have 40 minutes to slay every Gigantes in the game, boss and mini-boss alike, sequentially. They're also all Level 102, higher than the original level cap, though as of 1.05 you can grind past 100 all the way to level 200 and over-level the encounters.
• Boxing Battler: The Knuckles lets you fight with boxing-like punches, swerves, and jabs.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: You can find boosted enemies, rare enemies, and boosted rare enemies. The EXP multipliers also stack exactly as you would expect; killing a boosted rare enemy dispenses 20x the normal EXP yield.
• Bullet Time: When you use Twin Machineguns' Stylish Roll thrice in a row, time slows down. Oddly, only you slow down; everything else moves as normal. Provides plenty invincibility frames for the trouble, though.
• Bullfight Boss: Most of Gran Wolgahda's attacks involve charging at you, be it with jumps or palm strikes. More often than not, you'll be sidestepping them.
• Cap: Your Chain stops at 999 Chain. This also stops your damage multiplier at 8.98x.
• Censor Suds: Used in the secret hot spring event unlocked by buying an installing a Spa or Mini Spa. After watching said event, female player characters can craft it as an outfit!
• Chain Lightning: Gizonde, of course.
• Chainsaw Good:
  • The Gigantes Galation is covered in chainsaws, on its wings and tail.
  • You may come across Rabins, bunny-like Natives that have chainsaws for ears.
• Chekhov's Gun: The device Fildia hands to Lutina early in the game? It's a Telepipe. Lutina uses it to evacuate the party to the Delta Valiant after Nova's core starts collapsing.
• Character Customization: Phantasy Star Online 2's character creator, famous for its insane flexibility and wide range of functions, returns with the Nova art style. While you can only completely customize your character at the start of the game, upgrading your Salon allows you to unlock features for the in-game character creator, up until Lv. 4 Salon gives you complete access to all features. Completing a Promise Order in the post-game additionally allows you to reconfigure your character's race and gender.
• Charged Attack: Nova is curiously the only Phantasy Star game where Techniques only come in this type. Attempting to cast a Technique without fully charging it will simply make the attack go poof without casting anything.
• Clothing Damage: After the Delta Valiant crashes, everyone's clothing becomes damaged. You can acquire damaged clothes as well. However, the damage is portrayed realistically, as opposed to Fanservice. In the post-game, you can expend Gran to fix everyone's outfits.
• Color-Coded Elements: According to the game, Foie is red, Barta is blue, Zonde is yellow, Zan is green, Grants is white, and Megid is purple..
• Combos:
  • As it borrows from Phantasy Star Online 2's combat system, weapons are capable of fluid and dynamic combos. Rods, Talises, Wands, and Halos are also capable of stocking Technics on their Weapon Palette in addition to their normal attacks (and in the case of Halos, Gran Arts), and can stock extra Technics on their Subpalette for extra versatility.
  • This also takes the form of a fundamental gameplay mechanic called Chaining, which is a rebalanced and revised version of the mechanic of the same name from Phantasy Star Portable 2. By landing multiple hits against targets, you can start a Chain, which will constantly increase as long as a character in the party attacks an enemy. Chains are translated into a scaling damage multiplier, and sustaining a Chain fills the Burst Gauge. When the Burst Gauge is full, the party achieves a Gran Burst, which provides a random benefit and prevents your Chain from disappearing for the duration of the Gran Burst.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The diamond gem that shows up on a Gigantes' head is colored to indicate how much HP it has left. Red means it's close to full health, orange means it's around the middle, and yellow means its almost dead. Yellow also indicates that it's weak enough for you to catch it with Ignition.
• Colossus Climb: The Gigantes, which are giant, towering beasts of Organic Technology. You can't scale them by normal means, but you can create Ring Fields with Halos or Ring Generators to take the battle to the sky.
• Combat Tentacles: Alcyone is a giant squid, it should have any less. They also double as flamethrowers, and will really ruin your day if you don't have much Fire Resistance and you don't take out at least a few first.
• Composite Character: As this game doesn't have the branch classes Phantasy Star Online 2 introduced, the main classes are composites of both the original and its branch from its parent game.
  • Busters are this in an interesting sort of way; most of their skills are Nova equivalents of pre-existing Fighter, Gunner, and Techer skills, as well as Braver's Average Stance, mashed into a single class, which makes them a Jack of All Stats.
• Continuity Nod: The Photon-wielding race that invaded Machia in the distant past is implied to be the Photoners.
• Contractual Boss Immunity: Bosses are naturally immune to practically every status effect. However, they aren't immune to the Paralysis effect using a Gigantes Blast has.
• Crate Expectations: You can find crates sparsely scattered around Machia's landscape, which generally contain things like materials or Gran Pieces.
• Cute Kitten: There exists a series of rare, cat-themed Attachments, in pudgy, adorable cat face and cat tail varieties. The cat faces in particular have the unique distinction of causing your weapon to emit a "meow" sound whenever it strikes with an attack. That normally sounds adorable, but you can also stick it on Rifes and TMGs, which will play the meow for every bullet that connects.
• Cypher Language: While it isn't seen particularly often, ARKS uses a written language that's just English with symbols that vaguely resembles the Latin alphabet. In fact, the entire opening cutscene uses text walls written in this cypher.

D-G

• Damage-Sponge Boss: Large Gigantes in Super Hard and beyond suddenly get absurd HP pools for no good reason. The weakest of large Gigantes in this mode have at least several million HP, if not more.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: The gameplay was heavily based on that of Online 2, but has its own quirks.
  • All weapons use a Palette Shift instead of tying Arts usage to combos. This change also makes it so the R button no longer performs Weapon Actions. Instead, Weapon Actions must be mapped to a weapon like a Gran Art would.
  • Certain Arts function quite differently from their Online 2 counterparts. For example, most Arts that were Charged Attacks are no longer chargeable, but function like they were charged by default. Button Mashing mechanics were also removed for Twin Machinegun Arts, for better or for worse, depending on the Art.
  • Technics must be fully charged to cast them, otherwise it just cancels the charge. This can seem hindering, but the cast time of Technics in general were greatly reduced compared to Online 2 to compensate.
  • Standing Snipe functions differently in this game. In Online 2, Standing Snipe is based on whether your character is actively moving, regardless of player input. In Nova, it now only checks if any movement is being inputted. This is most likely to compensate for the Gigantes, who move around way too much for players to stay in one spot all the time.
  • Double Sabers don't Kamaitachi, they Guard. Get used to it, Double Saber mains!
  • Think you know Dark Ragne? Nova will make you think twice; Gran Dark Ragne's animations are the same as its normal counterpart, but all but two of its attacks have been replaced with new ones. What looks like Ragne summoning dark lightning bolts is actually it summoning exploding homing orbs.
• Darker and Edgier: Than its parent game. Unlike Online 2, which features bright and colorful environments and a lighter plot, Nova features the very bleak landscape of Machia and a liberal coating of Anyone Can Die.
• Death Dealer: The Talis, which are thrown cards that also act as conduits for your Technics.
• Defeat Means Friendship: By using the special skill Ignition on a weak Gigantes whose diamond core glows yellow, you can establish a Gran Link with it. This captures the Gigantes and allows you to summon it for a Gigantes Blast.
  • This is also how you and your team travel down a hole in Machia's surface that Reven fell through earlier in the plot: by catching a Alcyone and riding it down through the crater.
• Deflector Shields:
  • When performing Guard with the Sword or Pile, a round energy shield appears in front of you, representing the impact while nullifying the damage. Partisans would also count if their "shield" weren't of the Spin to Deflect Stuff variety.
  • Assault Rifle wielders can use Reflect Aegis, which generates a shield made of Gran energy that soaks up frontal damage. It will break if it takes enough damage, though.
• Deliberately Monochrome: Rare variants of enemies can be identified by their monochromatic color scheme.
• Demoted to Extra: The Darkers don't do much in Nova. Sure, they're still destructive Dark Falz spawn out to kill all of life, but after the first chapter, their relevance to the plot pretty much drops off the map. Machia's local Gigantes take their place.
• Developer's Foresight: One Quest involves leading a Galation though a network of walls so you can bait it to break down the walls for you. If you happen to defeat the Galation before completing the task, any walls that haven't been broken will fall apart automatically when you approach them.
• Difficulty Levels: Normal, Hard, and Very Hard. Version 1.03 adds Super Hard, and Version 1.05 adds Extra Hard.
• Disc-One Nuke: In the Japanese version, the collab weapons are free DLC. If you grab them before you start the game, they'll greatly outpower your starter weapons for a fair amount of time.
• Double Unlock: Many items, usually Costumes, require the player to either progress to a certain point in the story, or upgrade that particular facility to a certain level, to unlock that item... for crafting. To actually get the item you want, you need to expend items to craft it after unlocking it.
• Downloadable Content: Players can purchase new story events and Quests for the post-game with money. There are also special quests that can be purchased to help players grind things faster, such as Quests for Gran Pieces or Rappies.
• Dualvertisement: Being developed by tri-Ace, the game has collaboration DLC with a few of their games, including Resonance of Fate, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, and Valkyrie Profile.
• Early-Bird Cameo: During Yomi's sub-scenario, he aspires to craft a Partizan called Twilight Blue, and eventually succeeds. After an update, Twilight Blue was made available as an 11★ Partizan.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The game's core mechanics are based on PSO2's gameplay at the time of EPISODE 1, which is notably slower and clunkier in a similar vein to previous Phantasy Star games than PSO2 was in later years, where game updates gradually made it more streamlined and actionized compared to the other post-tetralogy games. As a result, coming back to this game after playing PSO2 may feel jarring due to the use of old mechanics that were antiquated or obsoleted by updates.
• Eldritch Abomination: Gran Darkers, which are Darkers that have been infused with Machia's Gran to make them weak to Gran as opposed to photons.
• Elemental Powers: You can get Fire, Ice, Wind, Lightning, Light, and Darkness.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Many enemies are weak to an element or two, which can be exploited via Technics or weapons with elemental properties. It's also possible for players to invoke this via Force skills that force elemental weaknesses onto an enemy.
• Elite Mook: Boosted enemies, signified by their bright gold color and red name. They are slightly larger in size than standard enemies, have more HP, and deal more damage. They're also fairly rare, and if you manage to kill one, you'll get 10x the EXP a normal version of the same monster is worth.
• Endgame+: "The Endless Chapter ∞". Once you have defeated Reven for the first time, you can return to Machia to explore a massive treasure trove of post-game content, such as Level 4 facilities, new Quests, new Cold Sleep Counter members, and even a whole new subplot.
• Energy Weapon:
  • Ragrants, which fires a thin beam made of light.
  • Resonance Cannon, a Halo Gran Art that fires a redirectable beam of pure energy. Combining it with Satellite Bit improves the beam radius and damage.
• Fictional Video Game: Photon Fighters. Very little is revealed about it other than it being a fighting game and including various playable Classes. Hyperion is surprisingly good at it.
• First-Episode Twist: Magnus gets fatally injured by Gran Darkers and dies no more than twenty minutes after the start of the game, which serves to cement the game's liberal application of Anyone Can Die.
• Flash Step: Gran Dicahda and Gran Predicahda utilize short-range "teleports" with their high speed to flank and surprise targets with a claw slash.
• Foreshadowing: Reven has an odd black crack on the center of his coat, around the heart area...
• Foe-Tossing Charge: Some Hunter and Buster Gran Arts are capable of it.
• Forced Level-Grinding: Averted for most of the main game, as you aren't required to go out of your way too much. Played painfully straight post-update, as the starting recommended level for Super Hard content starts at Level 110, and there's a massive EXP gap between Level 100 (the original Level Cap) and Level 110, made even more painstaking by the lack of reliable methods of post-Level 100 level grinding. (It takes approximately 4 million XP to get to level 100. Level 101? One million XP. It gets worse.)
• Fun Size: Gran Zeshrydha, which is approximately a fifth of the size of the regular Zeshrydhas found elsewhere.
• Gaiden Game: To Phantasy Star Online 2. While Nova shares its concepts and universe, the plot is wholly isolated from that of Online 2 and uses a completely original setting and cast.
• Gameplay Ally Immortality: Your Partners can resurrect as often as they want, which is particularly handy, since you'll be relying on them a lot.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: While in the Delta Valiant's Training Room, your HUD displays PP (Photon Points). While on Machia but before you obtain the power of Gran, your PP gauge remains empty until that particular cutscene, after which PP turns into GP (Gran Points).
• Gatling Good:
  • One of weapons Erude can equip is a pair of gatling guns.
  • Ray Banthers and Ray Banshees, which come equipped with twin gatling guns.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: Ray Banshees and Ray Banthers will be often trying to put a lot of distance between you and them so their gatling gun shots land. If you destroy their gatling guns, however, they stop doing this.
• Giant Enemy Crab: Erude is a Gigantes lobster loaded with Frickin' Laser Beams, Gatling Good, and capable of performing a Macross Missile Massacre.
• Gimmick Level: Some Quests in the Version 1.03 post-game feature an elemental gimmick where all of the enemies' attacks deal certain elemental damage, and all enemies are weak to a specific element. Not possessing the proper elemental attacks renders all of your hits Scratch Damage, and not possessing the proper elemental resistance renders all but the weakest attacks borderline One Hit Kills.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Alma Rappies sport little goggles suitable for hiking up snow-covered mountains. They're aesthetic, of course.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Goldos like to fight primarily with their fists, slugging players with powerful punches and pounding the earth to fire a shockwave at you. Anything else is generally whacking you with its horn or skewering you with spikes.
• Grid Inventory: To use any of the Skills you earn while leveling up, you need to install them to the Skill Board. By installing a Skill on the Board, you can gain its benefits. One player retains all the skills earned from leveling other classes, which allows a wide range of mix and matching to fit your needs. Additionally, installing certain skills next to each other can achieve a Combo Skill that grants a bonus skill in addition to the installed skills.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: The Endgame+ is justified as an alternate universe where the Delta Valiant is trapped in a time loop that repeats the day before they fight Reven and Nova.
• Guest Fighter:
  • Leanne/Reanbell is among the few special crew members you can acquire for the the Delta Valiant^note Using the password "Eo Ereanbell" in the Cold Sleep Counter. She sports her outfit from her game and unique voice clips, and her voice actor is properly named in the credits.
  • PSO2's Zeno, Echo, and Afin from the Old Save Bonus.
• Guide Dang It!: Good luck trying to figure out all the Combo Skills by yourself. While some are common sense, like S-ATK Up I + S-ATK Up II = S-ATK Up III, most of the better ones require odder combinations, like Tech JA Advance (Quick Weapon Switch Up + Quick Weapon Switch Down + Technic Advance + Technic Usage).
• Guns Akimbo: Twin Machineguns, natch.

H-M

• Hard Light:
  • Some Gran Arts do this. Over End and Over Slicer are two of the most prominent.
  • Ring Fields are essentially platforms of Gran that you can stand on.
• Hijacked by Ganon: Averted for once; series mainstay Dark Falz is completely absent from the plot (though that may be because he's occupied elsewhere), and the Big Bad is a new character.
• Hope Spot: Act 1 ends with the Delta Valiant getting ready to go home, with its Photon Drive replaced with a fresh Gran Drive. The ship manages to take off and leave the surface, but no sooner does it do so that the planet itself suddenly attacks the ship, damaging it once more and causing a second crash landing. Fildia sacrifices herself to protect the Delta Valiant from being destroyed, passing down her position of captain to the player in her stead. By the time the chaos blows over the crew of the Delta Valiant is even worse off from when they started, with Fildia now dead, the Delta Valiant rendered out of commission again and the heroes now realizing that they will have to solve the mystery of Makia if they want to escape.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: The first time you encounter Agrios, it will be about 10-ish levels above you. Killing it is an exercise in futility, so you'll have to settle for finishing "Emergency Code: Avoid" to complete the Quest.
• Human Popsicle: Most of the Delta Valiant's crew is in cryonic stasis. If you can collect enough Gran Pieces, you can purchase Cold Sleep Capsules which will release your crewmates which will allow them to assist you in ways such as offering services or joining your party.
• Hunter, Ranger, Force: The classic three are still available and have been loosened up from past installments, and the repertoire now adds the new Buster class into the mix. Once you build your own Class Counter, you will be able to switch between them freely. As in the parent title, class/race combo restrictions have been removed, allowing Newmans to be Rangers and CASTs to be Forces.
  • Hunters excel in solo play, boasting high HP and defenses that allow them to stay on the front lines. They can deal as much damage as they soak, as their wider repertoire of weapons and affinity for Striking Damage allows them to slice through foes like mad, and with skills like Guard Stance and Fury Stance, they can adapt to battlefield situations on the fly.
  • Rangers excel in staying at arms length with Assault Rifles and Twin Machineguns, while pushing damage from places enemies can't reach them using their affinity for Ranged Damage. While they aren't as heavy as Hunters, they can still take a beating on the front lines, and with Gran Arts like Reflect Aegis, they can be a valuable asset when Hunters aren't viable.
  • Forces excel in showering elemental hell upon foes from a distance, using a spellbook's worth of Technics and their high T-ATK. While they are the most frail class, their ability to take advantage of elemental weaknesses, as well as support allies with Technics such as Resta, Shifta, and Deband, more than make up for their low HP. And while they aren't trained in front-line combat, they can learn skills to transfer elemental weaknesses to enemies with melee strikes, making them easy prey for a powerful storm of Technics.
  • Busters are the most balanced class, and specialize in none, but can wield all. To make up for their lack of specialization, Busters can learn more unorthodox skills that set them apart from other classes, such as Average Stance and GP Slayer, that make them a unique asset on the battlefield. Additionally, their affinity for Piles, a weapon developed by Delta Valiant to fight the Gigantes, allows them to create makeshift weak spots on enemies on the fly so others can pile on the damage.
• I Shall Taunt You: The War Cry Skill, which temporarily draws all enemy aggro towards the player in question and boosts Hate Accumulation. When used effectively, it becomes much easier to hit targets who aren't targeting someone else, or you can just function as a tank to let your teammates clean up for you. Of course, if used improperly...
• Improbable Weapon User: You can pick up some wacky weapons, such as a broom for a Sword or a stop sign for a Rod. Due to how equipment progression works in this game, they're all fairly viable for a while when you can get them.
• In a Single Bound: Carnebears can jump really, really far. This is facilitated by their shoulder cannons, which they fire continuously at the ground to increase their airtime. However, if you happen to be in the way, those shots can hurt.
• In-Universe Game Clock: Whenever you complete a Quest, a "day" passes. This is important for Promise Orders or when you send an Expedition team scouting, as repeatable Promise Orders need a certain number of days to recharge depending on the Order, and Expeditions require you to make a certain number of days pass before they return.
• Infinity +1 Sword:
  • Pre-update, Fildia's Morning Red was this, boasting higher S-ATK than any other Sword in the game, bonus points for literally being a Sword. Also doubled as a Bragging Rights Reward pre-update, as it could only be acquired from the toughest challenge in the game.
  • The Nova series of weapons are 15★ weapons whose stats far exceed other weapons of their caliber; all of them typically break the realm of 9000+ ATK! For comparison's sake, the next-highest weapon only approaches 6000+ ATK.
• Interface Screw: The Blind status effect blackens the edges of the screen, tints the center a very dark orange, and disables your lock-on.
• Invincible Minor Minion:
  • One Quest involves breaking through waves of G Darkers while outrunning a Boosted Gran Wolgahda, who is this.
  • Hyperion's friendship Quest involves mooks that are practically impervious to damage.
  • Sumara Kuritoro from "Extreminate the Source of Gran" is a subversion. They outlevel the recommended level for the Quest by a factor of 20 and deal One Hit Kills, but they're entirely killable. In fact, they actually have less health than an enemy of the same level encountered in Super Hard difficulty. For each one you kill, another one of a much higher level spawns, but the same rules apply. The only one of these that are actually this are the Level 215 versions from the Super Hard difficulty, which only take Scratch Damage.
• Item Crafting: Pretty much everything you need and want has to be made using materials you find on the field. Anything from Swords to scopes to Shield Units to Costumes to Scape Dolls has to be made from enemy drops. Some stuff doesn't need to be made, like facilities and weapons you get from your friends.
• Jack of All Stats: Busters. Their stat growths are equally balanced, and the skills they can learn are aren't skewed toward any particular attack type. In addition, they can wield every weapon in the game, including their own special weapon, the anti-Gigantes weapon Piles.
• Jet Pack: The Rove Rappies, this game's version of Rag Rappies and Nab Rappies, have jet packs strapped to them. Their primary attack involves flying into players to deal damage.
• Kaizo Trap: As with past entries, not all enemies are safe to stand under during their death animation. Banthers, Banshees, Dragons, and Goldos will all gladly crush you under their corpses if you decide to stand under them after you kill them.
• Kill It with Fire: Alcyone partakes in this, dropping fireballs that explode into pillars of flame and spewing fire from its Combat Tentacles.
• Large Ham: The announcer for Emergency Codes is extremely over-the-top, courtesy of professional American ring announcer Lenne Hardt.
  Announcer: CHAAAANGE OVERRRR COOOODEEE! DUELLLLLLLL!
• Laser Blade: Over End and Over Slicer, Gran Arts that generate this for Swords and Partizans, respectively. They're slow, but hit like a truck.
• Last Chance Hit Point: Iron Will has a 30% chance of leaving you with 1 HP if you take a fatal attack. It shouldn't be relied on too much to survive hard hits, but it's useful regardless. You can also get Steel Will late-game, which gives you a 50% chance to proc it instead.
• Last Lousy Point: The "Mark of a Hero King" Trophy. You need to slay a whopping 11,111 enemies. Even though you spend practically the entire game killing things, there is zero chance you will ever get this trophy through the course of normal gameplay. You will need to grind your ass off for it.
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: Red Cores and materials are generally better, rarer, and are used to make better things than regular blue Cores and materials. The rarity scale for equipment also features red stars for 7★ to 9★ rarity, gold stars for 10★ to 12★, and white stars for 13★ to 15★. Additionally, red Cold Sleep Capsules hold better crew members, and rainbow Cold Sleep Capsules hold the best crew members, like Fildia.
• Level Cap: Level 100. Version 1.03 increased it to Level 150, and as of Version 1.05, you can go to Level 200.
• Life Drain: One series of Abilities gives you a chance to recover 15% of your HP when an attack connects, up to 35%. Another series gives you back HP whenever an attack connects, but the value is much, much lower, up to 3%. However, given how much damage you do in the updated post-game, a hard enough hit will still fully heal you anyways.
• Light 'em Up:
  • The Light element.
  • Coral Dragon, a Quartz Dragon Palette Swap, fights primarily by firing rays of light at your party, aimlessly or otherwise. It can also refract light around itself to turn invisible, allowing it to sneak up on you. Unlike its cousin, however, it prefers to stick to these attacks rather than charging at you almost all the time.
• Limit Break: Gigantes Blasts, which allows you to call a captured Gigantes to your aid to obliterate enemies. You can also initiate Gigantes Blast Chains in multiplayer to strengthen the Gigantes to be summoned. However, the power of a Gigantes Blast scales with the level of the captured Gigantes, which means if you want a stronger Gigantes Blast, you'll need to catch a stronger Gigantes.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Erude can fire a storm of missiles from medium range at players. At later stages, this can be very lethal.
• Magic Knight:
  • With the Technic Usage skill, a Hunter can become this. However, due to their lacking T-ATK, the only Technics one can expect to get mileage out of are support Technics, such as Resta, Anti, Shifta, and Deband, making them lean towards a combat-heavy Combat Medic.
  • Wands are about this, as while their T-ATK is lower than Rods, they also boast respectable S-ATK stats to bash enemies hard. The Force class as a whole encourages this to a certain point, as it grants a lot of skills that inflict elemental weakness debuffs that are triggered by using melee attacks on enemies.
  • Due to their particular quirk, Busters can also become this, and are actually competent at it.
• Magic Skirt: Skirts never seem to flip in spite of all of the crazy jumping action the players do. It's still possible to invoke an upskirt with some Lobby Actions.
• Marathon Boss:
  • A lot of Gigantes the first time you meet them can be this, due to how much health they have and how much punishment their armor they can take.
  • Vari Goldos. Tons of health, DEFs through the roof, and has zero elemental weakness. Prepare for an incredibly long fight.
• Mass Monster-Slaughter Sidequest: Present, but actually fairly uncommon. Reven and Orcus give out most of them; the latter's Promise Orders are actually required to open new content.
  • Several of the last missions you unlock are actually arenas in which the objective is to survive for a certain length of time. Clear enough of the waves, and you'll come across a bunch of rappies. Also, these arenas collect a large number of normal enemies in one place, giving you a better spot to grind for the Random Drop required to craft that one piece of equipment you may need.
• Metal Slime: The rappies. Rare to appear, they don't attack, but if you kill one you get a bunch of rare drops.
• Mix-and-Match Weapon: Assault Rifles, which, depending on the Gran Arts, can function like shotguns, grenade launchers, sniper rifles...
• Mon: The Gigantes Blast. You know those giant, 100-meter tall biomachine monsters that form the crux of the game's story? They're the Mons. In a manner somewhat similar to Pokémon, depleting a Gigantes' health to critical levels then casting the Ignition Active Skill while a Pile is embedded in the target allows you to "catch" the Gigantes. You can then use the Gigantes Blast ability, which summons the captured Gigantes to your aid. Depending on the specific type of Gigantes, the Blast can have a myriad of different effects that can range from cannon bombardment to buffing and healing the party on command. Unlike Photon Blasts, which are strengthened through an intricate process of Mag raising, Gigantes Blasts grow stronger by catching higher level Gigantes.
• More Dakka: This appears to be a favorite of large Gigantes; all but Alcyone and Ravegeist are equipped with innumerable guns, cannons, and whatnot, and will gladly throw them all at you to ensure your inevitable death.
• Multi-Mook Melee: There are a few Quests that involve defeating multiple waves of mooks under a time limit. Defeating enough waves summons a mini-boss, then if the mini-boss falls, you're treated to a wave of Rappies and Rove Rappies, then the cycle restarts. While you're only required to finish the first cycle for 100% enemy elimination rate, you can continue the second cycle up until the mini-boss dies again, in which case no more enemies spawn. Naturally, these are great quests for level grinding.
• Multiple Endings: Although minor, Lutina's monologue during the epilogue will change depending on how many of the individual character stories you've completed. If you get 100% Completion (which can only be done in Endgame+), you'll get a different monologue, and the normally-black endslate after the ending will change to an image of Juno and Reven watching the Delta Valiant depart.
• Mythology Gag:
  • One of the starting hairstyles you can use is the Xion Up.
  • Lots of PSO2 weapons are recycled for the initial nine weapon categories. However, as you go up in Rarity, original weapons start appearing more frequently.

N-R

• Necessary Drawback: A pair of Force Skills enable you to select effiency vs. power. One of the Skills shortens the charge time of Technics, but reduces their strength. Conversely, the other Skill provides a substantial damage buff to Technics, but make them charge much longer as a result.
• Nintendo Hard: Not for the main scenario, which can be completed without having to go out of your way too much. After that, then the game starts taking itself seriously.
• No-Sell:
  • Possessing 100% Resistance in a certain element causes all Tech-based attacks of that element to only deal Scratch Damage. However, Strike or Ranged attacks will only deal vastly reduced damage.
  • Unlike a normal Zeshrydha, Gran Zeshrydhas resist attacks against its shell. Hitting a G Zeshrydha from behind will only deal Scratch Damage.
  • Reflect Aegis is guaranteed to block at least one attack before shattering. In other words, no matter how powerful the attack, as long as it only deals a single hit of damage, it's entirely negated. This means Rifle wielders can defend against crazy attacks like One-Hit Kill claw swipes and gigantic missiles five times your size.
• Non-Lethal K.O.: If there's a Pile in a weak Gigantes, you can opt to use Ignition on it instead of killing it. You still get full rewards for this, and you earn its Gigantes Blast for the effort. This only works on Gigantes with a diamond core, however. Ravegeist is immune, though.
• Oddball in the Series: From a storyline perspective, Nova is the only game in the franchise's history where Dark Falz doesn't make an appearance in some way, shape, or form.^note Its lackeys appear, but it itself does not. From a gameplay perspective, it's also the only game post-tetraology without an online component, relegating multiplayer to the realms of ad-hoc.
• Old Save Bonus: If you have Phantasy Star Online 2 save data on your PS Vita, you can awaken Zeno, Echo, and Afin as Guest Fighter Partners from the Cold Sleep Counter.
• One-Hit Kill:
  • The Final Boss has an attack where it raises its hands up to generate a sphere of light. If you are unable to stop it by destroying one of the glowing orbs on its arms, it will drop the sphere, which explodes on contact and generates an explosion devastating enough to chew through all of your HP if you have no tools to dodge it.
  • Altios' cannons do vastly more damage than an Agrios, to the point where taking any sort of blast damage amounts to this.
• One-Winged Angel: Reven transforms into a Gigantes, Ravegeist, as the Final Boss.
• Our Dragons Are Different: The Machia variant of Dragonkin, which are already an example of Our Dragons Are Different. There's also Coral Dragon, a crystalline jet-like dragon that specializes in refracting light around itself to turn invisible.
• Palette Swap: Several enemies, like Ra Oodans, Ra Badrians, and Judd Banthers, are recycled from Phantasy Star Online 2, but given this treatment. Gran Darkers as a whole are simply regular Darkers with the red glowing parts replaced with yellow.
• Passing the Torch: The captain of the Delta Valiant, Magnus, is attacked by Gran Darkers and dies twenty minutes into the game, leaving Fieldia to take his place as captain.
  • Later on, Fildia is killed when the Delta Valiant crash lands a second time, but not before handing you the position of captain.
• Peninsula of Power Leveling: The aforementioned "Exterminate the Source of Gran" is a fantastic level grinding spot. This is because while the HP of the Sumara Kuritoro is vastly scaled down, the EXP they give isn't. That means you can slay a Level 195 enemy that has about as much health as an enemy 100 Levels lower and get the same EXP as you would if you had actually slain a Lv. 195 enemy.
• Permanently Missable Content: Defied with any of the special Partner weapons you can get from Lutina, Sail, Izuna, and Fildia. If you ever wind up discarding any of them, you can do a Promise Order to acquire another copy, plot be damned. These Orders will remain even if you're holding onto one of the weapons, so you can potentially acquire multiple copies to customize.
• Piñata Enemy: Rappies. They very rarely spawn, but are non-hostile, most of their drops are rare, and they drop high amounts of EXP. However, they will flee after some time if not defeated. Alma Rappies and Alma Rappy Onnas are even better, as their drops are of much higher quality than standard Rappies, and they drop tons of EXP.
  • They are guaranteed spawns in Multi-Mook Melee Quests, which makes them fantastic places to start Level Grinding.
• Player Headquarters: The Delta Valiant's crash site. After you become captain, you can build and customize it to your liking.
• Power Creep: Once you hit the post-Level 100 game, numbers start becoming utterly ridiculous. Prior to Level 100, average damage amounted to four digits, and the good stuff dealt five-digit damage. Damage boost percentages were reasonable, in the 20% to 50% range. After Level 100, five-digit damage is normal, and the good stuff deals six-digit damage. Percentages also begin starting from 40% and go all the way to 80%.
• Power Equals Rarity: As a general rule of thumb, the rarer the weapon, the stronger it is. Even then, weapons of the same rarity tend to be in the same ballpark in terms of power ratings. The only exceptions are the collaboration weapons, which can be picked up early, but despite being 7★, they're weaker than 3★s and 4★s of the same weapon class.
• Power Glows: One point that Nova calls to attention is that ARKS weaponry glows when infused with a power source. Rods have glowing cores, Swords have glowing blades, and so forth. Without a power source, weapons will not glow and will be ineffective against the Darkers.
• Power Up Letdown: Possibly owing to how crazy powerful it is pre-Level 100, all upgrades to Glory Rain between Lv. 21 and Lv. 25 add exactly 1 Power per Level and a GP cost reduction. It gets a marginal upgrade from Lv. 26 onward, but is still the hardest-hit Power Creep victim in the post-Level 100 game.
• Precursors: Makia was once inhabited by an ancient, technologically advanced civilization, but a run in with the other precursors of the PSO2 universe lead to them developing the Gran technology and the Gigantes, which, while successful in protecting the planet from the Photoners, ultimately lead to their downfall.
• Previously on…: The very first cutscene is a lengthy recap of the Phantasy Star Online 2 universe entirely constructed out of recycled footage, giving new players a rundown of all of the concepts introduced in that game.
• The Promise: The game opens with someone making a promise to Juno to help her, done from the point of view of the person making the promise. That person is a young Reven.
• Rainbow Pimp Gear: You can do this with your weapon if you so desire. The Attachment system allows you to create different parts embedded with Abilities, and for those Abilities to count, they need to be installed on your weapon. Due to the variety of available attachments, it's possible to have something like a Twin Machinegun with two scopes, a hilt, and a glowing bow on the barrel, among other things. This can also be averted by hiding Attachments so they don't make your weapons look really stupid.
• Random Event: Emergency Codes, which show up at any given time while exploring Quests, unless it's the Quest objective or a scripted event, like a barrier. This can range from defeating a bunch of enemies, to defeating that boss that decided to show up, or even catching a Gigantes.
• Random Drop: Every piece of equipment, every mod, every costume - they all require drops from enemies.
• Redemption Equals Death: Reven.
• Relationship Values: Each NPC has these, and they can be improved by fulfilling Promise Orders or taking them on Quests. As your friendship rating with other characters improves, you can unlock new Promise Orders from them and watch new cutscenes that expand on their character. Once a character has maximum friendship with you, you can embark on a special Quest with them to complete their story and see their "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue after the credits. Additionally, if you raise your friendship with Sail, Lutina, Izuna, and Fildia, you can unlock their weapons for your own use.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Even if Dark Falz isn't around, it wouldn't be a Phantasy Star game without Rappies, the Series Mascot, which now come in both standard and Alma Rappy variants. Alma Rappies are identified by their giant, fully stuffed hiking backpacks and adorable hiking gear. Alma Rappies not only drop more rare items when defeated, but they also drop ridiculous amounts of EXP. Considering the nature of this game, their bright and colorful presence can be a little jarring.

S-Y

• Scenery Porn: For a desolate wasteland, Machia looks really pretty up close.
  • The game makes a point of showing off how incredibly lush and beautiful the ancient ruins below Machia's surface looks.
• Scratch Damage: While you're deprived of a power source, everything you do deals 1 damage.
• Shout-Out:
  • The Duel Gaze returns as a Talis.
  • Sail has "ORA ORA ORA!" as a battle line.
• Short-Range Long-Range Weapon: Ranger has skills when equipped do more damage the closer in you are. Additionally, the range on the twin machine guns normal attack is surprisingly terrible.
• Some Dexterity Required: Want to change weapons and subpalette without stopping to get your ass kicked by that Gigantes standing 20 meters from you? Better learn how to claw grip your Vita/Dualshock.
• Space Elves: Newmans, of course.
• Spikes of Doom: Goldos have innumerable spikes sticking through both sides of their bodies. If you stay too close to them, they might just try to impale you with them. This, naturally, hurts. A lot.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: How Partizans block.
• Stance System: Certain classes can learn Stances that augment the player's attacks and abilities.
  • Hunters can learn:
    • Guard Stance, which increases S-DEF and R-DEF, but decreases S-ATK and R-ATK.
    • Fury Stance, which increases S-ATK and R-ATK, but decreases S-DEF and R-DEF.
    • Brave Stance, which increases damage when attacking from the front, but decreases damage when attacking from the back.
    • Wise Stance, which increases damage when attacking from the back, but decreases damage when attacking from the front.
  • Busters can learn Average Stance, which slightly increases overall damage.
• Status Effects:
  • Bind: Prevents movement.
  • Infection: Denoted by a dark purple tint. Slowly drains the target's HP.
  • Blind: Severly hampers visibility and disables your lock-on.
  • Gran Poisoning: Denoted by a bright yellow glow. Severly hampers movement and disables all actions besides dodging.
• Stuff Blowing Up:
  • Agrios has its main cannons, which it can fire straight or upwards. Getting hit by a shell is generally a death sentence.
  • Erude can equip giant missiles for arms. If you're too far away, it will fire its missiles at you, which will chop off most of your HP if it connects.
• Stripperific: True to the status quo set by PSO2, some of the female outfits are revealing to the point of absurdity. Shout outs to the Sexy Style (wearer is only covered by a huge ribbon), Shampoo Style (wearer is only covered by Censor Suds), and the Valkyria Costume.
• Supernatural Aid: Right in the middle of Gran Darkers killing ARKS left and right, Lutina finds a device off a corpse, which summons Juno, who gives them the power to harness Gran to make their weapons work. This allows them to come to Fildia's aid to beat down a Gran Predicahda, but not before their captain, Magnus, dies.
• Team Shot: At the end of the game, you are presented with a sepia-tone image of the Delta Valiant's crew (minus Magnus) and your character. If you completed any of the NPCs' sub-scenarios, Lutina will also narrate their "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue.
• Terminally Dependent Society: Machia became dependent upon Gran after using it for so long. Which meant they couldn't just shut off the power supply when the Gigantes grew beyond their control.
• That's No Moon: The largest Gigantes in the game? You're standing on it.
• The Gunslinger: The Twin Machineguns turn the player into this, hopping around and popping off shots like a John Woo character.
• The Reveal: During the game's ending, Juno turns her back to the player's party, which reveals Gran valves identical to the ones seen on Gigantes.
• Theme Naming: Most Gran Darkers, like their normal counterparts, end their names with -ahda. Their names also all start with the prefix letter "G", to denote that they are "Gran" Darkers.
• Third-Person Shooter: Tapping your character with the touchscreen shifts the camera to an over-the-shoulder view, so Assault Rifle wielders can play like this.
• Timed Mission: Some Emergency Trials and Quests require you to complete them under a certain time limit to pass. Irritatingly, Quests of this type become increasingly common once you enter the post-game, such as only being given 15 minutes to kill a Level 90 Gigantes or having 19 minutes to kill That One Boss.
• Title Drop: The true planet Machia is actually being encased by a Gigantes known as Nova.
• Turns Red:
  • If their health drops low enough, large Gigantes will enter a temporary enraged state where their body literally glows red. Not only do they become more aggressive, they also deal double damage, so staying out of their way until they cool off is generally your safest bet.
  • Ray Banshees and Ray Banthers can invoke this with their infrared goggles. They usually like to keep a distance and don't engage in close-quarters battle often. However, if it starts scanning the area with its goggles and makes eye contact with a player, it will roar and start charging around the area, making it a much more lethal threat until its temper stops flaring.
• Unnecessary Combat Roll: How Rangers and Busters dodge.
• Wave-Motion Gun: One of Erude's equips includes a pair of powerful lasers that will rip through anything in their path.
• Weapon Tombstone: After Fildia dies, her Sword is planted next to her grave.
• Weapon Twirling:
  • Partizan wielders twirl their weapon at the end of a combo. It's purely for show.
  • This is how Double Sabers block.
• Wham Episode: The end of Grand Act I. The Delta Valiant is ready to leave Machia thanks to a fresh Gran Drive empowering the engines and shields. The ship almost makes it out of orbit, until the planet reveals itself as a planet-sized Gigantes and attacks the Delta Valiant. The resulting damage sends the Delta Valiant back down to the surface, but not before Fildia pulls off a Heroic Sacrifice to save her crew.
• Twenty Carnebear Asses: Most Promise Orders require you to collect X amount of Y. This is actually a good thing, because the majority of items they ask you for can be found through the normal course of gameplay, and most are also repeatable given enough in-game time, allowing you to avoid Can't Catch Up by using later-game Promise Orders to train low-level classes.
• Virtual Paper Doll: There are a bunch of costumes to try on, but you have to craft them first.

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